Five Loves: Rupert Giles
by dollsom
Summary: Whom, and how, one loves says a lot about a person...
1. Circularity

**Title:** Circularity  
**Rating:** I can squint and call it PG13/FRT for mild language and implied sex.  
**Ships:** Giles/Deidre, Giles/Ethan implied  
**Prompt:** Circle OR triangle (I use both)  
**Words:** 547  
**Author's Note:** I don't do slash, I'm sorry. I know Giles/Ethan is practically canon, and I tried to write it, I really did. But my hands froze, and I could not type. I'm sure it would just end up awkward and stilted anyways. So the closest you're getting is Giles/Deidre with Giles/Ethan implied.  
**Disclaimer:** checks mirror Still a hot female twenty-something. Not Joss.

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**Circularity**

"You sure you wanna go through with this?" Ethan asked, voice full of skepticism. He leaned against the wall of the dingy flat, arms crossed, with the air of one expecting things to go hilariously awry at any moment. "Eyghon isn't for every wanker with piercings and leather who fancies themselves a mage. You've got to be strong. And you've got to be serious about magick."

"I can take it," Deidre replied cooly, though Ripper could sense the nerves in her voice.

He sat on the grungy tile floor of the sparsely furnished room with his legs out before him, one knee up, the other down. Deidre sat immediately in front of him, leaning against his knee in what might be described as a languid manner, though he knew she would be clinging to him for support once the pain started. He noticed her hands shake as she pulled her corn-silk hair to the side, leaving one shoulder bare. He wiped her skin with antiseptic.

"Ethan screamed like a little girl when he had his done," Ripper told her with a smirk, partly to make her feel better, but also to make Ethan twitch, which was always amusing. Even if it had been a lot easier ever since Deidre had joined their group.

When he'd met Deidre, she reminded Ripper of how he had been: new to the city, trying desperately to disguise the fact that she hailed from the better classes, searching for someone to thrill her. She hadn't even known enough to disappear after a one-night-stand, but had hung around the flat that Ripper shared with his gang the next day. Ethan kept at him to ditch her; and when he didn't the boy mocked Ripper, saying that he was getting soft, taking in young innocents and urchins. He was eager to get back to their magicks.

But Ripper had found something just as intoxicating. He introduced Deidre to the world of spells and demons, and watched her world be turned upside down. He taught her how to cast, how to do LSD, how to live on the street, and felt her mind being molded to his design, as easily as her body succumbed to his hands at night. There were moments when he thought that this was the same thing that the Council did, with Watchers like himself, with Slayers. But those thoughts were easily swept away by sex and drugs and magick.

Ethan was still bristling from Ripper's slight. "Yeah? Well it's nothing to how you scream when Eyghon--"

"Hey!" Ripper's head snapped up, eyes flashing angrily. "You gonna cram it an' let me do this or do I have to shut you up?"

Now it was Ethan's turn to smirk. "Go on. Try it."

A warning glare was his only response, and it had no impact whatsoever. So Ripper just turned back to Deidre. He kissed her shoulder, feeling the tension in her muscles relax as though on command. He switched on the tatoo needle before saying in a low voice, "You won't scream, will you?"

The girl turned to him with the wicked look of those new at giving them. "Not unless you want me to."

Ripper smiled, and began by drawing a circle onto her skin.


	2. The Kind That's Secret

**Title:** The Kind That's Secret  
**Rating:** It's implied that Giles thinks dirty thoughts. Still just G/FRC, though.  
**Ships:** Giles/Jenny  
**Prompt:** Secrets  
**Words:** 391  
**Author's Note:** This is more Giles-centric than ship-centric. Which is odd for me, 'cause I'm usually all with the OMG! Giles/Jenny! Yays!!!1! But, this is the way I went with this.  
**Disclaimer:** I only wish I had legions of devoted fans and artistic creations that earn me comparisons with Shakespeare. Still not Joss.

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**The Kind That's Secret**

Giles really was at a loss as to what to wear. There was a small part of him that wanted to dress casually, if just to see the look on Jenny's face and to prove that, yes, he did own a pair of jeans. He didn't entertain that option for long, though. He prefered to risk being overdressed than the opposite -- he chose a navy blue suit from his closet and began to put it on -- and Jenny might tease him for it, but... well, if it gave Jenny something to tease him about, all the better.

He smiled, thinking of her. This would be their second date, and Jenny truely seemed to like him, despite -- or perhaps because of? -- his properness. The fact that he had fumbled and stuttered his way through their first date certainly hadn't seemed to damage his standing with her. It was disorienting, pursuing a relationship without recourse to the tropes and patterns of his youth, the pick-up lines, signals, and assumptions, which were wholy inappropriate in this context, and anyways Giles had changed since then, despite what Ethan had said.

_Be seeing you..._ No, it wasn't a problem, he wouldn't let it become one. And it wasn't as though Giles was hiding anything, he was simply... keeping things in their place. What had happened on Halloween wasn't a part of Giles' current life, had nothing to do with him being a Watcher, or with Buffy, or Jenny, or any other part of Sunnydale. He'd take care of it alone.

Giles put on a blue shirt, pulled the sleeve down over his tatoo, buttoned the cuff. He pushed all thoughts of Halloween from his mind, thought of Jenny instead, imagined her preparing for their night out -- Giles froze, with his blazer half on, as his mind wandered. After a moment he blinked, finished shrugging on the jacket, and, grinning to himself, went to select a tie.Yes, in spite of all obstacles, things had progressed well thus far. Jenny seemed to like him, and for his part, every time Giles saw her he grew more enchanted.

Giles turned to the mirror to inspect his appearance, to make sure he was the model of the proper English gentleman. As he straightened his tie, he wondered what Jenny had in store for him.


	3. Easy

**Title:** Easy  
**Rating:** The characters have sex. I don't write about it though, only make oblique references. G/FRC!  
**Ships:** Giles/Olivia  
**Prompt:** Movement  
**Words:** 337  
**Disclaimer:** If I owned this stuff, I'd be getting paid right now. (I'm not, by the way.)

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**Easy**

Olivia had reentered his life suddenly, but with surprising ease. Running into each other on a smoggy summer afternoon in LA, they went out to dinner. They caught up: her life was fast-paced and cosmopolitan; he said he was taking time off to write a book. She told him she was just coming off a bad relationship; he vaguely implied that he was unattached. They ended up in her hotel room, as he suspected they might when he first recognized her face. The next day he gave her his address, and said that if her work brings her to LA often, she should drive up sometime. She did.

It was a good arrangement. There were few questions, fewer commitments and responsibilities. When Olivia was in town they lazed around the house. Giles felt bohemian, and younger than he had felt in years. When they talked, his stories were vague and slightly elaborated on; he told her so much about his "book" that he began to think he might actually start writing one, and when he told her about his friends at the local university, he conveniently forgot to mention that they were students, not professors. He didn't feel bad about the half-truths, their conversations were mostly light and impersonal anyways, and their relationship was based on a different kind of communication.

When she was away, Giles found himself missing Olivia's presence more and more, and increasingly anticipating her return. She came and went like a bird, or like something carried on the wind, and Giles found himself wishing for a relationship that was somewhat more grounded. He told her about vampires, and she laughed. She hadn't taken him seriously, but she hadn't called him insane and run off either, she'd just laughed, her voice smooth and airy. So Giles decided to enjoy their relationship for what it was.

Then came the Gentlemen, and even when Olivia was able to laugh again, she hadn't. In the end she left his life just as easily as she had arrived.


	4. Change of Season

**Title:** Change Of Season  
**Rating:** I mention blood and death... does that make it PG13/FRT?  
**Ships:** Giles/Buffy, or Giles&Buffy if you prefer. Can be read either way.  
**Prompt:** Autumn Leaves  
**Words:** 278  
**Disclaimer:** I AM JOSS THE GREAT AND POWERFUL!!! ...nah, just kidding. No Joss here.

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**Change of Season**

Throughout the autumn he'd told himself that once they got to Buffy, everything would be alright. Buffy was home free, she was a hero, she was California, eternal summer. Giles had spent the last few months watching things fall: the Council, potentials; girls curled on the ground and spattered with red. Buffy had fallen in the past, both literally and figuratively, but, both literally and figuratively, she had always been reborn, stronger and more beautiful than ever. Most recently it had been a long and tortured rebirth, but she had prevailed in the end as always. When Giles had seen Buffy last she was so bright and eager to live again; he returned to that memory of her like a mantra, like a prayer, every time he met with death.

When at last he arrived in Sunnydale with three -- only three -- potentials, it was colder than he'd remembered, but as unnaturally green as ever, and for once Giles welcomed the sight. The cold persisted when they got to Buffy's, but he ignored it -- perhaps he carried the chill of death with him -- along with how dry she seemed around the edges. Then another potential fell, and so did Buffy, bruised and bloodied, they were all falling. And Giles wondered just what spectacular feat of heroism he had expected, and why Buffy always proved to be human just when he had grown accustomed to the fact that she was so much more. And, as he often had over the years, Giles wondered whether it was Buffy herself, or the idea of her that he had fallen in love with; the girl, or just the hero.


	5. When You Least Expect It

**Title:** When You Least Expect It  
**Rating:** G/FRC  
**Ships:** Giles/OC  
**Prompt:** Surprise!  
**Words:** 1352  
**Author's Note:** banduraqueen and I came up with Lina as the character we would like to see as Giles' love interest in the Season 8 comics. She's somewhat -- okay, _very_ -- stereotypical, but I don't care. I like her. Also, unlike the other four ficlets, this is a romantic comedy and has something resembling a plot. In that stuff happens. Not a lot of stuff, but still, there's a beginning, a middle, and an end. Hence, it's longer. But cute!  
**Disclaimer:** Giles, the Council, Watchers, and Slayers are all the property of Joss Whedon. Lina Ko is mine. Joss can have her, though. Actually, please take Lina, Joss. Take her and put her in your comics.

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**When You Least Expect It**

Giles glanced at Lina Ko out of the corner of his eye. She was dressed elegently in a tailored skirt-suit that set off her slight figure without being too trendy, and her dark hair, which she wore in a braid, as usual, shone in the flourecent light of the elevator. If he had to guess at her age, then, based on her level of education and the number of positions she'd held before she'd been hired by the New Council's London office, Giles would place her at around thirty, give or take a year or two. He was not "checking her out" -- Giles had given up on romance several years ago. He was simply puzzling over the fact -- rumour, rather -- that, according to the lunchroom chatter, Lina had "a monster crush" on him.

Giles refused to believe it when one of the researchers had approached him in the cafeteria and all but begged him to ask Lina out, so that she would stop pining over him. Soon, however, the conversation was joined by a half dozen other assorted Watchers and Slayers, all of whom had an opinion on the depth of Lina's feelings, how fantastic a person she was, and what a cute couple she and Giles would make. Not that any of that had changed his opinion on the matter, he still didn't believe it. After all, his relations with Ms. Ko had never been anything more than professional. Perhaps he saw her more often than other researchers, but after all, she was very good at what she did. Furthermore, there was simply no reason why an intelligent, attractive young woman like her should feel anything for a dried-up old administrator who'd seen too much and couldn't remember the last time he talked to someone without using the words "Slayers," "squads," "consult the library," or "in triplicate" -- that is to say, himself. Giles chalked the whole thing up to some ill-conceived prank, and came away from the experience with a decidedly lower estimation of the maturity level of Council personelle.

Now that he was alone in the elevator with her, Giles could see that he was right. There was nothing at all telling about Lina's behaviour. In fact, she had been staring at the numbers above the door, as they lit up one by one, the entire time. It gave her an open, unguarded expression that was rather charming. And her eyes were very pretty...

"Would you like to go out?" Giles asked suddenly. Only to prove that he was right, of course.

Lina turned to him, eyes wide with shock. "Pardon me?"

"Would you like to go out for dinner with me?" He kept his tone light and casual, so that she wouldn't feel bad about refusing him, as he knew she would. "Say, tomorrow night?"

"Oh..." If he hadn't known better, Giles would have said that Lina was supressing a grin. "Yes, that would be lovely."

Well, that was unexpected.

"Ah..." Giles searched his mind for what to do next. "I, uh, I-I'll pick you up at, um, seven?"

Lina nodded, "Okay."

The elevator _dinged_ and the doors opened. Giles let Lina exit before he stepped off.

"Oh!" She spun around to face him. "Do you know where I live?"

"I-I, um, i-it-it's on file."

Lina smiled and nodded one more time, before turining to walk down the hall.

Giles stood rooted to the spot, not quite sure what had just happened. Was he really going on a date? At this point in his life? With so many other things happening?

As Lina turned a corner, Giles heard something surprisingly similar to a squeal of delight, followed by the sound of clapping and high heels jumping up and down. He wondered just what he was getting into before smiling and heading towards his office.

Accompanying Lina back to her appartment, Giles knew one thing for certain: in no way could the date have been mistaken for a success.

His first mistake was to say that Council business was not to be a topic of conversation for the evening. As it turned out, the Council was the one and only thing Giles and Lina had in common. She had been polite enough to ask Giles to tell her about some of his experiences, but almost as soon as he started talking, her eyes took on a glazed look which he identified as boredom, a look he was very used to seeing in the eyes of the young. At which point he suggested that Lina talk about something that interested her. She protested, saying that she enjoyed listening to him talk, but Giles was convinced she was just being polite, and insisted. Lina obliged by giving Giles a crash-course in Japanese pop-culture. At least that was what Giles gathered she was talking about. He might have been wrong. Once Lina got on a roll, the speed of her conversation was such that he was lucky to pick up half of what she was saying. And half of those words, he couldn't understand. Anime, tarento... she went on for some time and with great enthusiasm about dojinshi, which had something to do with manga, and something called hentai, though Lina seemed to have mentioned that almost by accident, as she quickly changed the subject. Giles made a mental note to ask Andrew or Dawn what it meant, they seemed fairly in touch with such things. At any rate, Giles wore a bewildered expression for most of dinner, and ended up feeling quite disoriented.

Afterwards, the couple started to walk around the neighbourhood. It wasn't long before the silence between them had gone from awkward to oppressive. Giles talked about the first thing that sprang to mind, rounding off random facts and anecdotes about their surroundings. Lina responded by saying that Giles would make a good tour guide, which shut him up rather quickly, as he took it as a nice way of saying that he was boring. And he remebered that Lina _had_ been living in London for about a year already, so that he was likely coming off as patronizing. At that point, Giles abruptly suggested that they head back.

The entire experience had been rather embarassing, and Giles was quite convinced that any crush Lina may have had on him was, well, crushed.

They walked to her appartment door in silence, and Giles waited as she fished for her keys in her purse. Once she found them, Lina seemed to spend an inordinately long time identifying which was her latchkey. She was still studying them when Giles interrupted, hoping for a cue that he was free to leave.

"Well, then..." he started, wondering what would be the most polite way to say that he understood there would be no more dates.

Lina finally looked up from her keys, and gazed at him... expectantly. There was no other way to describe it. Giles simply regarded her with a puzzled expression, not sure how to respond. Lina grew increasingly awkward until she blushed brightly and turned to her door with a mumbled "goodnight," trying to unlock it as quickly as possible.

At that point something seemed to occur to Giles. He blinked, and looked at her askance, as though trying to figure her out.

She opened the door, but before she could disappear inside, he reached out and held her shoulder lightly.

"Lina..."

She turned, and Giles leaned down and softly brushed his lips against hers. He began to pull back so as to gague her reaction, but before he could Lina flung her arms around his neck and pulled him back into a heated kiss. It was a moment until Giles fully regained his balance; and it took a while for the couple to reach an equilibrium where they were both participating equally in the kissing. It took an even longer while for them to come up for air. When they finally did, Giles had to catch his breath before asking Lina if she was free next weekend.


End file.
